Long-spined Sea urchins (scientific name Diadema antillarum) play a critical role in maintaining healthy coral reefs. They help sustain the delicate balance within the reef by grazing on algae, which are the main competitors of corals. Unfortunately, in the mid-1980s, a disease swept through the Caribbean, wiping out nearly the entire sea urchin population. In mid-February 2022, reports starting getting in about new extensive die-offs in the Caribbean region.
The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) organized a reef restoration workshop led by University of Applied Sciences Van Hall Larenstein (VHL) between April 5th and 6th on Saba. This workshop involved coral reef biologists, coral restoration experts, and marine park managers from various Caribbean islands to focus for the first time on the restoration of one important key player on the reef โDiadema antillarumโ long spined sea urchin.
DCNA hosted 3 online informational sessions open to all interested on Tuesday 5th of April, 2022:
- Time: 10:00 โ 10:40 am AST
- Topic: Current Diadema die-off events, scale, symptoms, treatment and updates.
- Watch back:
- https://youtu.be/vbfwItmOSio
- Time: 10:40 โ 11:20 am AST
- ย Topic: General introduction Diadema restoration
- ย Watch back:
- https://youtu.be/ju-9rXnaXIM
- Time: 11:30 โ 12:15 am AST
- Topic: Culture of Diadema
- Watch back:
- https://youtu.be/tTKl03Jt_38
More information on workshop
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